Curtis Gill sinks into the comfy chair and smiles.
Hes an engaging storyteller with an easy smile and modest way. Gill, 85, lives on a sliver of land in a trailer north of the Cortez airport.
He enjoys talking about the past. Growing up poor in Arkansas, raising four kids and getting bit by venomous snakes on two different occasions.
He also likes talking about Danny Thomas, the legendary TV and film actor who came to fame in the late 1950s.
I really liked his (TV) show, Curtis says.
But it was Thomass humanitarian efforts that had a profound impact on Curtis and his wife.
In 1962, Thomas founded the St, Jude Research Hospital, known world-wide for its pioneering research and treatment of children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases.
More than 20 years ago, Curtis and his wife Peggy were watching Thomas talk about St. Jude Hospital.
I thought that would be a good thing to do, Curtis says about donating money.
Thats when Curtis and Peggy started a monthly ritual of sending money to the St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital.
Every month, Curtis says they would get a $25 money order and send it off to St. Jude.
Then a week or so later, they would get a thank you card in the mail. With that thank you would be a picture of a child. Children with cancer, leukemia or some other illness.
Curtis hops up from his chair and retrieves a scrapbook.
St. Jude Kids the cover reads.
On the first page under the number 1, is the smiling face of 3-year-old Samantha Watlington.
Page after page of childrens faces. Some as young as 1, others as old as 19. Some with hair, some without.
Some of the smiling faces show the pain and torment of their illness. The smiles cant hide their pain or cloak the sadness.
Seeing those faces makes Curtis sad, he admits, but he feels good that his donation is helping a little.
My wife started putting them in that book, he says, setting the scrapbook on the living room table. Whenever, (the photos) came in, Id say be sure to put them in the book. She always did.
He just shrugs when he talks about donating money.
I figured all those kids have cancer and other things, so I figured Id just help them out, he says.
Curtis came to Cortez in 1950 and worked in sawmills and the logging industry. Making ends meet wasnt always easy with raising four kids on a modest wage. Then, when the kids were gone, money was still tight as he got older. But Curtis says it didnt matter, every month, him and Peggy would be sure to send off that $25 money order.
Who knows what happened to them, Curtis says about the kids who appear in the scrapbook. But it makes me feel good knowing that Im helping them.
Curtis wishes he could send more, he knows more money would help more. But its what he can afford and he plans to keep on sending $25 every month.
I dont plan on stopping now. I guess Ill stop when I die, he says with his infectious laugh.
In June, Peggy passed away.
She was a good woman. I miss her. I miss her a lot, Curtis says looking at the framed photograph of his wife.
So now he will be the one who gets a photo of a child from St. Jude and tapes it into the scrapbook.
He tells stories about growing up poor in Arkansas where he was bit by a water Moccasin snake and almost died when he was about 12. Then he got bit by a rattlesnake when he was digging through a wood pile in Cortez.
Boy that hurt. I didnt know I got bit by a snake until I went to the hospital. My leg got this big around, he says, using his hands to show just how big.
Curtis knows what its like to be poor and hes lived through the struggles of hard times. Hes grateful that his kids were healthy and never had problems like the kids in the scrapbook photos.
He never thought twice about sending money to St. Jude.
I could have used it, sure, he says about the money. But those kids need it more than I do. I think thats a good thing, helping all those kids who are sick.
Curtis looks at the St. Jude Kids scrapbook and nods.
It does make me feel good. But thats not why I do it. It sure would be nice if theyd find a cure someday.
With that, the $25 money order is slipped into an envelope and mailed off.
Curtis returns to his chair and smiles.
